Rearing Pheasants

Dusty87

I got a few adult birds the last couple of years for myself but this year i was thinking of getting eggs or a few chicks. Thats where the questions come in. Last year i was on a site that was being cleared when a JCB scraped over a pheasant nest. The hen bolted and the bucket cracked the eggs bar 4. I Incubated them and 3 chicks came out. I fed them chick crumb (stuff we had for chicks) but they all died after a few weeks. Should they have been on special food???
If i get chicks does anyone have any advice on it?? It would be my first time with Pheasant chicks so any help would be greately appreciated.
Also how long do i keep them under heat? Any info at all.
Thanks Guys

Tackleberrywho

Dusty87 wrote: »

I got a few adult birds the last couple of years for myself but this year i was thinking of getting eggs or a few chicks. Thats where the questions come in. Last year i was on a site that was being cleared when a JCB scraped over a pheasant nest. The hen bolted and the bucket cracked the eggs bar 4. I Incubated them and 3 chicks came out. I fed them chick crumb (stuff we had for chicks) but they all died after a few weeks. Should they have been on special food???
If i get chicks does anyone have any advice on it?? It would be my first time with Pheasant chicks so any help would be greately appreciated.
Also how long do i keep them under heat? Any info at all.
Thanks Guys

Be more careful with the JCB

EPointer=Birdss

Dusty87 wrote: »

I got a few adult birds the last couple of years for myself but this year i was thinking of getting eggs or a few chicks. Thats where the questions come in. Last year i was on a site that was being cleared when a JCB scraped over a pheasant nest. The hen bolted and the bucket cracked the eggs bar 4. I Incubated them and 3 chicks came out. I fed them chick crumb (stuff we had for chicks) but they all died after a few weeks. Should they have been on special food???
If i get chicks does anyone have any advice on it?? It would be my first time with Pheasant chicks so any help would be greately appreciated.
Also how long do i keep them under heat? Any info at all.
Thanks Guys

I doubt very much it was the chick crumb that did it!
I have used it for years without issue but I raise them on grass so plenty of bugs also.
I have heard about & intend on trying cat food this year too as a protein supplement in the early weeks.

I have also bought in 100 chicks & fed them game feed. Every single 1 died. Still unsure as to why but the food was only different thing I used but surely a special game food would be ok.
Needless to stay I went back to chick crumb but could of easliy been a disease!

As regards red light - depends on weather & if indoor or outdoor.
I'd say off heat by day at 4/5 weeks & off heat at night by 6/7.
I still much rather bantam hens for this side of things.

Dusty87

But if i buy them as chicks will a bantam not start pecking them?? Or should i put one or two bantams in anyways??
Do you worm them Ep and what age?

Dusty87

Also is it something i should steer clear of until iv someone who knows better with me??

patakadarragh

The banty hen has to be clocking to take the chicks...as you probably know.......im just hatching a few pheasants at the moment....i breed chickens and great if you have a clocking banty hen but if not id reccomend a contraption called an electric hen for brooding them rather than a red lamp it seems to keep them very healthy and also i think the light can irritate them and lead to cannibalism.The electric hen is like a heat pad on threaded legs that you can adjust the height of.
Shredded paper for bedding for first week then on to wood shavings.
Keep bedding good and fresh.

Im only new to pheasants but this works grteat for chickens.

6 weeks when fully feathered they can be off heat......wgat kind of incubator u using??

patakadarragh

also should add you should start weaning them off heat at five weeks

Dusty87

Pataka,
I know all about chickens, like yourself, but when it comes to pheasant chicks, its a new world.
I use a brinsea and a Hovabator.
Never put pheasants in them as i heard they dont roost and become Fox fodder.

patakadarragh

Fair enough....how do you find the hovabator..ive got one and tbh i find it not great.

Never heard the not roosting one sure ill see how it goes might get a silkie to foster them when they hatch...if she ever comes clocking.

Dusty87

The only thing i dont like about the Hovabator is its polystyrene (sp). Hard to clean, but other than that i find it brilliant tbh. The price was great, 42 egg automatic for about 100e posted from the US. GMQ or GMF manufacturing or something. If your doing goose eggs or big eggs like that you would need a bigger turner.

Yea, seemingly pheasants from incubators wont clock on their own eggs, pheasants from a hen will act like a hen etc.
From hens and ducks iv hatched from an incubator its not the case. They still clock but id be afraid pheasants are different

patakadarragh

Yes ive the same one as that i prefer the rcom suro by a mile though ive a hatch in it next week so ill see how it goes....

Yes ive heard that tale alright about them not clocking....i have my doubts though could bea bit of an old wives tale......defo not true with hens but ive heard the same story about them.

Dusty87

patakadarragh wrote: »

Yes ive the same one as that i prefer the rcom suro by a mile though ive a hatch in it next week so ill see how it goes....

Yes ive heard that tale alright about them not clocking....i have my doubts though could bea bit of an old wives tale......defo not true with hens but ive heard the same story about them.

Iv hatched breeds that rarely go broody in an incubator that have gone broody their first year:eek: Rcom seem good. Havnt bought one yet, very fancy:D:D
Have you hatched any pheasants yet??

patakadarragh

no due in a forthnight...all candled fertile....rcom is a brill machine.....185 for digi temp and rh control.

EPointer=Birdss

I have my first lot of pheasants out today. A nice little bantam. I had a incubated chicken that came out very late that I slipped under her & got a pecking for my troubles. Nice quiet hen she is by comparison to the others & this is her first clutch.

As I've said on here before I've done an experiment with tagged pheasants hens in a controlled enviroment to see if the hen hatched & the incubator hatched would raise a clutch & neither pheasant from the incubator did & the bantam raised ones did. Answered my doubts but sure there are exceptions. Both hens sat for 2-3 weeks & hen came off the eggs.

I have incubator pheasants out now as well & my hen will be adopting as many asI can. As said above only a clocking hen will take chicks & I've seen both chicken & pheasant hens kill young pheasants when they ventured to far from the mother.

mallards

I had the first of my pheasants out on Friday. I'm feeding them a special game/turkey starter crumb by redmills. They don't do well on the normal crumb as it is too low in protein.

Mallards

terminator2

any turkeys this year mallards;);)

mallards

Yeh, after I get these pheasants out of the way first!

terminator2

i was told that its easier to buy poults and bring them on than to buy day olds as the chicks die if you look at them the wrong way..................looking foreward to seeing some pics of the turkeys kid

stevoman

I have my first bantam sitting on eggs at the moment in a friends house. im going to let me second one clock in my shed and sit on eggs there.

My bantam is clocking in a square box about 2x3 in the shed with enough for the bantam to get up, dirty, eat and stretch her legs.

When the eggs hatch how long do i keep the bantam with them before i release then into the wild?

terminator2

a guess would be 12 weeks ,........imo the longer you keep them the more they imprint on humans eventually becoming tame......but 12 weeks is only a guess

greylag

terminator2 wrote: »

a guess would be 12 weeks ,........imo the longer you keep them the more they imprint on humans eventually becoming tame......but 12 weeks is only a guess

after about 7 or 8 weeks you could put them in release pen on their own. the hen will stop clocking around this time anyway and become disinterested in them

EPointer=Birdss

First mother of the year with some hatchlings & a few on the way.
She brought out all bar 1 egg which was a dead bird.

mallards

Very good EP, here are a few of mine that I hatched in the incubator.



Mallards

EPointer=Birdss

Hey mallards. I have 10 more out of the incubator that this hen will be adopting tomorrow. She also has 2 chickens adopted! Can't praise her enough & bantams in general.

mallards

I hope to go down that road next year but this year I have 42 hatched from one incubator and 56 eggs in another due to hatch this weekend! Hectic isn't the name for it!

Mallards

jimbrowning

Dusty87 wrote: »

I got a few adult birds the last couple of years for myself but this year i was thinking of getting eggs or a few chicks. Thats where the questions come in. Last year i was on a site that was being cleared when a JCB scraped over a pheasant nest. The hen bolted and the bucket cracked the eggs bar 4. I Incubated them and 3 chicks came out. I fed them chick crumb (stuff we had for chicks) but they all died after a few weeks. Should they have been on special food???
If i get chicks does anyone have any advice on it?? It would be my first time with Pheasant chicks so any help would be greately appreciated.
Also how long do i keep them under heat? Any info at all.
Thanks Guys

you can get starter crumb for game but dont think thats y they died. as 4 the heat lamp (red bulb is best, not white) leave them in incubator until they dry. less chance of gettin chill. have the brooder (heat lamp) ready and as close to 37.5 as poss. every week rase the lamp to reduce temp by 1 or 2 degres. at 2 weeks i moove them to a bigger brooder with 1 section for heat lamp and other for food, water and place to walkabout. this gets them used 2 change in temp. after 4 weeks (if not 2 cold) give them acses to outside. the sooner they used to the cold the better. make them harder birds.

jimbrowning

mallards wrote: »

I hope to go down that road next year but this year I have 42 hatched from one incubator and 56 eggs in another due to hatch this weekend! Hectic isn't the name for it!

Mallards

where can i get phesant eggs? looking 4 about 30

mallards

Sorry Jim, my eggs came from my own closed flock. I released them to rear their own in the wild after I collected the eggs. If you put a 'wanted' post up in the for sale section you might get lucky.

Mallards

Eddie B

jimbrowning wrote: »

where can i get phesant eggs? looking 4 about 30

One of the lads has eggs for sale in the Shooting for sale/wanted section!

Dusty87

Plenty of eggs on donedeal.ie

Donalmit

Hi Jim,

If you are in the Meath area, I can sort you out for 30 eggs. I am between hatches at the moment (200 due today!!!) so will not be filling the incubator for a couple of days. Let me know if you want them.

Rgds,

Mitch.